No one who passes Amansea roundabout in recent days and sees the gridlock and suffering of travellers would cease to ask whether there is still a government in Nigeria. Ordinarily, the journey between Awka, the capital of Anambra state and Amansea, a nearby community should take 5 or at most 10 minutes to traverse but because of the terrible state of the roundabout, commuters now spends endless hours on this short journey. Travellers have reported spending days trapped at the roundabout.
Just yesterday, I spent 12 precious hours waiting on what use to be a coal tar but has now become an ocean of mud, as our driver endlessly tried to navigate his way through the gridlock. While sitting in the bus, watching vehicle after vehicle got stuck in the mud, a number of questions went through my mind, especially “who has the responsibility of repairing Amansea roundabout: Anambra State Government or the Federal Government of Nigeria?
There and then I made up my mind that I would do this write up, first of all, to look for an answer to this important but often overlooked question and secondly to send a passionate appeal to the governments of President Mohammadu Buhari and Governor Willie Obiano to come to the aid of the poor masses who traverse this hell of a roundabout in search of their daily bread.
Who Should Repair Amansea Roundabout: Anambra State or the Federal Government?
Amansea road, especially the small roundabout that inspired this article, is on Enugu – Onitsha Federal road. Therefore, there is no doubt, according the Nigerian Constitution that the sole responsibility of constructing, rebuilding and repairing the road belong to Nigerian Federal Government. The question is why has the Federal Government of Nigeria allowed this section of the road to be in its present state causing the avoidable suffering it has caused among citizens?
There have been countless stories of how the road was awarded during the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan and how unscrupulous politicians from the Southeast, including Senator Ike Ekweremadu and Senator Ben Ndi Obi connived to share the money. What I seem not to understand is why people of the calibers of Senators Ekweremadu and senator Ben Ndi Obi who have enjoyed so much privilege and support from their people would connive to squander founds for a project that would make life at least a little easier for their people? If this allegation is true, how do Senators Ekweremadu and Obi go to bed and sleep soundly seeing the untold hardship and waste of lives their greed has brought upon those who entrusted their welfare to their care? I cannot even bring myself to address these issues here because I have so much respect for both Senators Obi and Ekweremadu and to imagine that they brought this hardship upon all of us is so unsettling.
Since Buhari’s administration came to power in 2015, contractors have been working on the road. Many people have praised Mr. President for doing for the Igbo, what their so called hero and son (Jonathan) could not do for them. And in all honesty, many sections of the road are by far better today than they were during Jonathan’s time. However, with all the contractors in the Enugu and Anambra sides of the road, the ocean of mud at Amansea roundabout has been left untouched. The roundabout has been in that state since President Buhari assumed office. Why are they contractors avoiding this roundabout, year in, year out in spite of seeing the sufferings commuters go through in that section of the road? Would repairing this roundabout not have endeared President Buhari to the road users and especially, Igbo sons and daughter who make most use of the road? Are the Presidents’ advisers not aware of this? What about the contractors, are they not aware that Amansea roundabout has made a mess of all the efforts they have invested in Enugu –Onitsha road?
In the event where President Buhari is not concerned about the plight of Ndi Igbo, particularly, Ndi Anambra who use Amansea roundabout more than people from other states, should the Government of Anambra State also be unconcerned? Has the Governor of Anambra State not seen the sorry state of that roundabout; if he has not, what about his commissioners and those in his cabinet? What about the representatives from Amansea whose jurisdiction the bad roundabout is under; is there no one who cares or does politicians from this part of the world derive some kind of pleasure in the suffering of their people?
It is not debatable that where things work as they should, the burden of repairing the roundabout falls squarely on the shoulders of the Federal Government of Nigeria. That President Buhari has neglected this section of the road, after all he has done on the Enugu – Onitsha road (for which many, including my humble self are grateful to him), is still a puzzle.
Perhaps, Mr. President is not even aware of the sorry state of that roundabout. If I recall correctly, the last time General Buhari passed the road was in 2015, when his campaign train took him through Onitsha to Enugu. If I am correct, then Mr. President should be quickly informed about the terrible experience his citizens are going through and why his urgent intervention is needed. Dr. Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour should use his good office and his friendship with Mr. Buhari to convey this urgent matter to him.
In the meantime, while all of us, ‘the Association of Road Users’ waits for Mr. President’s intervention, it is most pertinent to inform the hardworking and kindhearted Governor of Anambra state, that the majority of those who suffer on the Amansea roundabout are people from Anambra state not people from Daura, President Buhari’s home town. In this regard, while no one expects Anambra State Government to take on the repair of Enugu-Onitsha road, Governor Willie Obiano should at least, even on humanitarian grounds make Amansea roundabout passable again. Doing this will not cost as much as what the gridlock that sometimes extends into Awka, the capital city from the roundabout is costing the state and it will also reduce the suffering of citizens and reassure them that they have a government that empathize with them especially at this when Nigerians from all walks of life are losing confidence in leadership.
